Typically, information about the generation of an image file may be useful in downstream processing of the image file in order to provide an output copy of an image represented by the image file with an enhanced precision. For instance, in the context of document reproduction, various aspects of the generation of an image file may be used to produce a “faithful copy” of the image represented by the image file.
For example, information related to a capture mode (e.g., document, picture, etc.) used in generating an image file representing an image of a scanned original may be used to enhance reproduction of the image. Conventional systems do not provide for access to this type of information when the image is reproduced. Consequently, the grayscale used to output a copy of the scanned original may not correspond to the grayscale used to capture the image. This may degrade the output of the copy because when the grayscales do not correspond, the reproduction of shades and colors in the copy may be compromised. This may be observed, for instance, when a black and white image (e.g., a scanned document) is output as a color image.
As another example, image capture devices (e.g., scanners in the context of document reproduction) may generate image files with systematic inaccuracies. These systematic inaccuracies may run across a type of device (e.g., stand alone scanners, etc.), across substantially all of the devices manufactured by a particular manufacturer, across one or more particular models of devices, systematic inaccuracies unique to individual devices (e.g., due to inaccurate calibration, etc.). Typically, these systematic inaccuracies may not be accounted for when outputting copies of the images represented by the generated image files. Thus, the copies may be output including distortion caused by the systematic inaccuracies.
Information about the generation of image files is generally not included in the image files in part because conventional mechanisms for making such information available for downstream processing include appending the information to the image file as non-image meta-data. This is only marginally effective because information appended to the image file in this manner is not “robust,” as conversion between file formats will usually result in the loss of the information. Accordingly, a robust mechanism and process that enables inclusion of information about the generation of an image file in the image file for downstream processing is needed.
It should be appreciated that although some of the drawbacks associated with the generation of image files using conventional devices has been discussed above with respect to the context of document reproduction, these and other considerations also apply to the generation of image files in other contexts. For example, similar drawbacks may be associated with the generations of image files in the context of biometric imaging devices (e.g., fingerprint scanners, retinal scanners, etc.), photographic imaging devices, mobile devices, and/or other contexts.